Matt 6, 19-23: Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moths and woodworms destroy them and thieves can break in and steal. But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworms destroy them and thieves cannot break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

‘The lamp of the body is the eye. It follows that if your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light. But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be all darkness. If then, the light inside you is darkness, what darkness that will be!’

The Lord is warning us of the apparent treasures that we can be seduced by. Treasures on earth.

Jesus’ illustration of the two eyes points to two ways a person can view the riches of this world. A bad eye alludes to the ancient Near Eastern notion of the evil eye, which looks at other people’s possessions with envy and covetousness and is miserly with one’s own. In contrast to this selfish spirit, the sound eye is a generous one (see Prov 22:9 RSV).

Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Ernescliff College, June 17, 2022.

Music: Prelude -Cello Suite 3- J.S. Bach. https://musopen.org.

Thumbnail: https://www.laurajdavis.com

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